Summary

The author divides the novel into a series of chapters each titled with the name of a different character. Every section is written from the third person point of view, with the exception of Mary Rose's portions of the text, which are written in first. The novel is set in Odessa, Texas during 1975.

In "Gloria," 14-year-old Gloria Ramírez watches Dale Strickland, the young man who raped her the night before, asleep in his truck. She is terrified if she leaves the field where the prior night's events transpired, he will wake. She watches the flat, dry land, thinking of her mother, Alma, and uncle, Victor. She spots a farmhouse several miles in the distance. She gathers up her clothing, feeling she is gathering parts of her body.

The night before was Valentine's Day. After a fight with Alma, Gloria hung around Sonic...